A good shoes story...

Published:09:20Sunday 20 April 2014

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Shoes are the ultimate statement, but there are only three universities in the UK providing specialist courses on footwear design. Dhanisha hagvaker tells Karishma Patel why she chose to pursue her career and her experience with designing shoes at university...

The 22-year-old footwear design student at De Montfort University explains her love for fashion and need for a career in footwear.

“I’ve always been a huge fashion lover and when it comes to shoes I have an unconditional love for them.

“From an early age I’ve considered a fashion-based career for the future, so to be studying Footwear Design at the moment is literally a dream come true.

“This also goes to show that you should never give up on your dreams.”

Dhanisha, from Penwortham, noticed that people around her had always been complaining that they couldn’t find that ‘perfect shoe’.

She hopes that one day she will be the designer who fulfils her customers’ desires and needs.

After choosing Art and Design subjects at school and college, Dhanisha is now studying footwear design at the Leicester institution.

“Going to university was a big step for me, this meant moving away from home.

“It was tough as it’d be quite far but if you have something you really want to achieve in life, you have to take the risk.”

“It has made me more of an independent person and I’ve met some great people, especially my course mates and tutors.

“I’ve learnt a lot in first year and there’s actually a lot more to making a shoe than you would think!”

“I enjoy the making of the shoe regardless of the fact that it is very time consuming and complicated at first.

“I do prefer the making side of it, as that’s more my forte.”

Dhanisha chose to study footwear not just because of her passion for shoes but also because she felt university will help enhance her making and drawing skills and also widen her knowledge on current and past trends.

She sometimes gets frustrated when people around her do not take her course seriously.

She explains: “It annoys me when I tell people what I study and they answer with ‘Oh is there a specific course for that?’”

“It never puts me off though as I’ve always loved being unique in what I do so this course is absolutely perfect for me.”

So far in her design course, Dhanisha has designed and created baby shoes, Oxford shoes, court shoes, mules, trainers and Gibson shoes.

A lot of students from DMU have gone on to work for well-known designers such as Jimmy Choo, Kurt Geiger, Gucci and Adidas, which is where Dhanisha would like to see herself doing after graduation.

She added: “I would love to work for Nike more than anything.

“I have always dreamed of working in a fashion capital such as New York, Italy and London.

“Oh I have so many favourite designers, but I think my main favourites would have to be Nike, New Balance, Kurt Geiger, Guiseppe Zanotti, and Jeffrey Campbell.”

Dhanisha is nowplanning to start up her own business soon and sell baby shoes to kick-start her career in shoe design.

Keep an eye out for her on Instagram: instashotsdaily.

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